The Media Reform Centre in Ukraine: Supporting Ukrainian democracy through an independent media
23.05.2006 15:16 | 3731 |
For the past four years DFID Ukraine has been working to enlarge democracy by helping the Ukrainian media towards an independent role.
Unlike other media projects which have concentrated on journalists, this DFID Media Reform Project set out to involve all the stakeholders in the media scene, from the authorities and the judiciary, through the media owners and business, to civil society organisations.
As there was nowhere for these interests to meet, a Media Reform Centre was seen as a necessary focal point to organise debates, training and other initiatives.
This Centre was established within the Journalism Faculty of the Kyiv-Mohila Academy, a respected seat of learning with an unimpeachable reputation for independent thought.
A number of media organisations were invited to work as partners representing various sectors of the media (broadcasting, the internet, publishing) and help choose topics of debate and training.
These organisations ranged from representative associations to a commercial industry magazine and an influential web magazine.
The Centre’s main activity was a monthly Media Club, an informal neutral debating space which all could attend to discuss topical media issues. Participants said that the Media Clubs were the only platform of open discussion where they could step out of their respective corporate positions.
The Media Clubs were also strikingly described in The Day newspaper as "Kyiv’s Hyde Park Corner". Media Clubs were also held in the regions, and Round Tables and Media Club Plus sessions were held in Kiev to support or criticise legislative initiatives concerned with the media.
A campaign to privatise municipal newspapers was one such initiative that was supported, and deficiencies in a proposed advertising law were exposed in another Round Table.
This phase of the project ended in March 2005 some months after the Orange Revolution, in which media independence was a key battleground.
DFID then took the next step of supporting a 12-month extension of the project entitled "People and Power; Dialogue Through the Media".
This capitalised on the reputation of the MRC and its expertise in staging informed debates; working with regional civil society organisations (in Chernivtsi, Cherkassy and Luhansk), Media Clubs were continued in the regions and Kyiv to prepare the ground for the parliamentary elections of March 2006 - the first test of electoral power since the Orange Revolution.
This project extension identified a key topical concern within Ukrainian society, which was pre-occupied with the need to create more transparent relations between government and people.
The Communications Department of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers in Ukraine in an attempt to address the need to become more responsive and accountable to public was attracted by the MRC’s work and reputation.
The government officials invited it to submit its expert view on new legislation and then asked MRC to hold a “Triangular Table” - a completely new format, where representatives of the authorities, both national and regional, journalists and civil society organisations could debate the new dispensation and attempt to build an effective dialogue.
The meeting held on 14 April 2006 at the premises of the Canbinet of Ministeers Club, was attended by over 100 participants from Kiev and the regions, and its format allowed each of the three “sides” to question the others, and put forward their own views on the way forward.
One interesting insight into the perspective of even this comparatively enlightened administration came when state officials during their presentation produced a diagram, which depicted the authorities as the locomotive pulling civil society forward. The idea of politicians and officials as servants of the people and responsible to them is clearly not yet the dominant paradigm among Ukrainian politicians.
But it is at meetings like the Triangular Table that these officials and politicians can be exposed to new democratic ideas, and DFID Ukraine felt that this unprecedented meeting was one of the major results of the project. But that is not all; as a result of the discussion, all the parties agreed to use the submissions made at the Triangular Table to develop a booklet for the joint use of officials, journalists and NGO activists.
Project Details: The Media Reform Centre in Ukraine
Budget (£900,000)
Phase One 2002- 2005 (building capacity of the MRC centre)
Phase Two 2005-2006 (work in the selected regions)
Design and Advice: Garth Glentworth, Veronique Vebruggen, Alexandra Zayarna, DFID Governance Advisers
Project Management: Olga Sandakova, DFID Ukraine Deputy Programme Manager
Implementers: Technical Assistance and Development Services, UK. Media consultants: Mediapie International: Tim Grout-Smith and Lily Poberezka
Project partners: KMA School of Journalism in Kyiv: Serhiy Kwit, Lyudmilla Gumenyuk, Tanya Lockot
Lessons Learnt:
Work with umbrella organisations, "the coordinator of coordinators"
Do not create new institutions, build the capacity of what exists;
Network widely, horizontally, vertically, upwards, downwards, in the capital, between the regions, between sectors;
Get the government engaged and let it exploit and appropriate your thinking and innovative ideas (e.g., “the triangular table” idea), give them to the government “for free” – civil society will benefit more from such intellectual donations!
Civil society governance standards and learnings are an important public policy issue as the demand for transparency and accountability is created alongside with acquiring participation and empowerment skills, and this learning locus often lies outside the state domain but then the process transcends the boarders and creates demand for accountability across sectors.
